60 SECONDS: Dave Legeno

Dave Legeno has worked as a bouncer, debt collector and wrestler. He’s currently an actor and cage fighter, making his professional debut on the mixed martial arts circuit at the age of 42. He’s appeared in Batman Begins, Snatch and even beat up Nana Moon in EastEnders. Dave competes in Cage Rage 19: Fearless at London’s Earls Court tomorrow.

That’s an unusual nickname…

I kept picking opponents who were superior to me on paper, so people said I had a death wish. It culminated in me fighting and beating Kimo, one of the most famous fighters in mixed martial arts, in September.

What’s Cage Rage all about?

It’s mixed martial arts – every form of martial arts combined in one arena. It’s in a fenced cage, which makes it safer because you can’t get thrown through the ropes. There are 30 rules – for example, you can’t poke people in the eyes, you can’t attack their groin, you can’t headbutt them or snap their fingers. Other than that, you can throw them on the floor, sit on their chest and punch them in the head or choke them until they’re unconscious.

Yikes! Does that happen a lot?

No, when you’re in a submission hold and know you can’t make it out, you ‘tap out’. A lot of the fights end with a grappling match on the ground with one of the fighters tapping out. It happens very quickly. Other fights can be an all-out war and the fans like to see people punching and kicking each other.

What’s your background?

I’ve done boxing, some wrestling and some martial arts training but I’ve found you can throw most traditional martial arts out of the window for this. A mixture of Western boxing, Thai boxing, judo and Brazilian jujitsu is good – but if you rely on just one method, you’ll come unstuck. You need to modify your judo; you have to remember your opponent can punch you in the head while you’re doing it. There’s a lot to be said for naked aggression as well.

Does being an actor come in handy for Cage Rage?

It’s important to put on a good show and a lot of cage fighters are trying to get into acting. I made the mistake of spending too much energy on making a flash entrance. I’d come on dressed as a priest with two sexy nuns carrying a severed Samurai head. It takes the focus away from the fight. When I’ve put on a really good entrance, the fight hasn’t been so good but when I’ve marched out there like a lunatic, the fight came out. There’s also an art to doing the smack talk before the fight, when you announce how much you’re going to beat up your opponent. With some fighters, it sounds very hollow but they’re not actors so that’s all that can be expected. Once you get in that cage though, you’ve got far more kudos than 99.9 per cent of the general public – just getting in there is a very scary experience.

So it’s got the entrances and chat of WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment] but with a proper fight?

Yes, you’ve got that excitement of wanting to know the fighters, and the fighters want to appear as individuals, but you’ve got a proper fight at the end of it. Wrestling’s the biggest money-spinning sport in the world. It’s not real but people love it for the characters and drama of it – so you get a combination of that with real fighting.

Did you think of going into WWE?

It’s tough to get into. We had wrestling in England in the early 1990s – I was wrestling under the name of Lone Wolf – and so that’s helped with Cage Rage.

What’s the worst injury you’ve had?

I’ve been knocked out but that’s it. People are always walking out of the cage. The injuries are limited – there aren’t repeated blows to your head as there are in boxing. If you’re semi-concussed, the guy will take you to the ground and the fight is over. We’ve got a doctor and paramedics there.

You’ve been described as ‘absolutely terrifying’. How scary are you?

I don’t feel malicious but sometimes I see pictures of myself and look a bit scary. I don’t want to intimidate people other than in the cage. I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was nine, so I see myself as an entertainer, not someone intimidating. I suppose I can be though, especially when I was heavier – I’d go somewhere for a sandwich and the owners would think I was going to rob the place.

You worked as a debt collector – did you ever feel bad taking people’s stuff away?

No, I’d have expected a smack off them. I’d only hit people if I was being hit.

When did you last get into a fight outside work?

About eight years ago with four guys over a parking incident. Other than that, I like to keep the fighting to a minimum. People will be reading this though, saying I’m lying, going: ‘No, he’s hit me!’

What have you got lined up?

I’m doing a film called Rise Of The Footsoldier about Carlton Leach. I used to work with him in the 1990s and he was involved in the West Ham football violence. I got cast and then told them I used to know him. We worked as bouncers at the same club in North London. There were a lot of us – we’ve all moved on.

How did you get into acting?

It’s something I always wanted to do. I remember I was nine years old and thumbed through the complete works of Shakespeare and found the opening speech from Richard III. I probably didn’t understand a great deal of it but I found the words magical and remember sitting there thinking: ‘What am I doing reading Shakespeare? I’m only nine’ but I was transfixed. I did performing arts at college in America but didn’t do much with it. I came back to England and fell into wrestling and character modelling for adverts. The first decent thing I got was Snatch but I was doing adverts before that.